Sneezing SEASON

Wish your seasonal allergies would bite the dust? These strategies can help tame those sniffles

See an allergist

Picking an allergy medication in the pharmacy can feel like throwing darts at a board.

Plus, you’ll need to make sure that the medication or dose – even if it’s over-the-counter – doesn’t interact with drugs you’re taking for diabetes or other conditions, says Melanie Dispenza, an allergist at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. Seeing a qualified allergist, particularly one with experience working with clients with diabetes, is your best bet for identifying exactly what you’re allergic to and ensuring safe and effective treatment.

Ask before using steroids

If your doctor recommends starting a steroid to gain control of severe symptoms, check in with your allergist or endocrinologist first.

“Extra steroid use may increase blood glucose levels,” says

Alice Hoyt, an allergist at the Cleveland Clinic. That said, there’s conflicting data on how much nasal steroid sprays impact blood glucose, she says. So, your allergist may want to take you on a supervised trial run of the medication before you begin to take it regularly.

Try newer antihistamines

Because antihistamines are so familiar, you may feel more comfortable taking these multiple times a day to manage symptoms. However, “these can make you very groggy to the point where you can fall asleep and miss a meal or a blood [glucose] check,” says Hoyt, and both can be dangerous. A better option is a secondgeneration longer-acting antihistamine like cetirizine (e.g. Zyrtec), fexofenadine

(e.g., Telfast) or loratadine

(e.g., Claratyne), which are taken just once per day and won’t be sedating, she says.

Consider immunotherapy

You may feel overwhelmed by the schedule of meds that goes with managing both diabetes and allergies. Immunotherapy – a regimen of shots given over the course of three to five years – can decrease the need for allergy medications for patients with severe symptoms, says

Hoyt. Allergy shots require a big time commitment and, depending on your insurance coverage, can be costly, so talk with your allergist to weigh these factors against the length of your allergy season and the effectiveness of your current treatment strategy.

Stay active

One goal of allergy treatment is to help you to feel well enough so you can stay active and enjoy the outdoors, says Dispenza. That’s why it’s important to take your allergy medications if your allergist recommends them. If you’re allergic to pollen, you can also check pollen counts – this can be done on a weather app on your phone or by checking

When counts are high, consider moving your workout indoors: walk through a shopping centre or try out a class at your local gym or recreation centre. By learning to pivot when you need to, you can participate in the activities you love and enjoy the season, despite your allergies.

Think back to a time when you received your HbA1c results and were disappointed by the numbers. What did you do next? How you respond after a setback – whether you sink into frustration or despair or instead focus on what you’ve been doing well, even if the numbers aren’t cooperating – is surprisingly important for your health.

The latter shows resilience

(the ability to roll with the ups and downs of life), which has been associated with better self-care, reduced stress, and even improved HbA1c levels.

Resilience isn’t about being relentlessly sunny. It’s also not a built-in trait, like optimism. This process of bouncing back from difficult experiences is something that anyone can learn. And it can be particularly useful when you’re managing a chronic condition. “Dealing with diabetes is emotionally challenging, and it’s normal to have times when you feel discouraged or burned out,” says Marisa Hilliard, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. “Resilience is what happens when you have the confidence to cope with discouragement and not let it derail you.”

So how do you build resilience? It starts with taking a moment each day to shift your focus from what’s going wrong to what you’re doing right, says Hilliard. So, quick: What’s one thing you’ve done for yourself today? Did you go for a short walk? Eat a nutritious breakfast? Take your meds? Give yourself a big pat on the back. See? That wasn’t so hard. Here are seven other ways to fortify your ability to rebound from setbacks. ➤